Loving Yourself

As I have been investigating A Course In Miracles (ACIM),  discoveries are being made related to sayings in the scriptures that seem to be making more sense than ever before. Let me give you an example. In the gospel of Matthew chapter twenty-two and verses thirty-seven through thirty-nine, Jesus is being tested by a lawyer. He asks Jesus what is the most important commandment in the law. Jesus answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. He goes on to say that the second most important commandment is like the first. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

One of the highlights in ACIM is discovering the peace of God. We all have access to God’s peace but not everyone has made such a discovery. It is also stated in scripture that God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are all One. It also states that we all were made in the image and likeness of God. I am now more aware that the image of God is Light. Being made in such am image is an indicator that we are Light as well. As we continue with this line of thinking and applying it to the Trinity being One, then this kind of thinking seems to lend itself to the notion that we are also One because that is where we get our image and likeness.

When Jesus makes the comment in the gospel of John chapter 14 and verse 20, “That in that day you will know that I am in my Father and you are in me and I am in you” opens up more understanding that we are all One. Here is something to consider. If we are all One then when I look at another person, no matter who they are or where they are, on a Spiritual plane, I am Spiritually looking at myself. When Jesus exposes the most important commandment to Love God with all of our heart, soul and mind and then he says to love your neighbor as yourself, is it possible that he is directing his listeners to recognize their neighbor as themselves?

If this is correct, then to love your enemy doing good to those you despitefully use you would suggest that we are One with those people as well and when we choose to love them rather than hate them we are in essence loving ourselves. When we choose not to love ourselves, such a choice is reflected toward that other person and the damage it does to ourselves is difficult to fathom. It is important to realize that Love is who we are. To choose any other image or likeness robs us of the Peace of God. The Peace of God is always present but choosing not to love due to a host of hurt feelings or reactions from others keeps us in the dark. 

For a Light being to choose darkness over light may possibly indicate some kind of blockage. If the flow of the Spirit is hindered in any way, the Love that we are will cause our abilities to love ourselves and others to be greatly diminished. The Holy Spirit does not leave us alone. The Spirit makes intercession for us with groaning that cannot be uttered. Remembering who and what we are is vitally important. The more we give thought to the reality of our Loving Source, the more we will choose to love ourselves and in so doing the Peace that passes all understanding will guard our minds to simply LOVE!